


FATAL ERROR

by Seraph_Years



Category: Original Work
Genre: Computers, Fantasy elements, Gen, More complex than the premise, Not actually based on mythology, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pretty much becomes AKIRA near the end, Science Fiction, Stealth Prequel, Stealth Sequel, THe result of Dragon Ball and Kingdom Hearts attempting to make The Matrix, Tags Are Fun, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, Tons of metaphors here and there, twist ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:00:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25870075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seraph_Years/pseuds/Seraph_Years
Summary: Chrysalis is a world inside of a computer. Its creator, the Operator, spent almost all of his life building it up, but he has become so engulfed in his project, that he is unwary of a virus chasing after him, called Salvie.4 programs named after Greek gods must take action against Salvie, led by their creator, Artemis. However, not all is what it's cracked up to be when the programs find out the truth about Salvie...





	1. Episode 1: Hello World!

Zeus, the red one.  
Poseidon, the blue one.  
Ares, the yellow one.  
Hermes, the purple one.

All codenames, all programs decisively given animal bodies to run around in a computer system. Which ones they possess is up to you. Their creator, Artemis (also a codename) gave them all a mission to fulfill.

[Artemis] "The world run by the Operator's code, codenamed "Chrysalis", is currently being overrun by a virus. That virus, Salvie, is endangering Chrysalis itself. The reason behind it is that the Operator has become so engulfed in Chrysalis and maintaining it that he is fully allowing Salvie to take him over. He's not aware of his actions, and some steps need to be taken to ensure that he does."  
[Zeus] "What is our mission?"  
[Artemis] "Find Salvie. Take it down."

The 4 programs march off and obtain their anti-virus weaponry.Zeus takes a staff giving him control over lightning, Poseidon takes a trident, Ares goes in with a sword and Hermes doesn't take anything.

[Hermes] "Isn't this a little too on-the-nose?"  
[Zeus] "I agree, let's change it up a bit."

The four then put their weapons away and allow Artemis to choose their selection.

Zeus gets a full set of knight armor and weaponry.  
Poseidon takes up some mage gear.  
Ares is loaded with heavy weaponry and armor.  
Hermes is outfitted with gear befitting that of a martial artist.

[Poseidon] "We're programs, aren't we?"  
[Artemis] "Go with the flow. I've tossed in a nice surprise."  
[Zeus] "Alright, any directions we need to follow?"

Later, the programs walk down the circuit board, mesmerized by the intricate circuit work on the ground and the screensaver that serves as the skies above. It couldn't be more colorful than this.

[Zeus] "If the Operator made all of this, then he must be freaky talented."  
[Poseidon] "A bit too talented, maybe. A virus is coming after him, and he's so engrained in his work that he's completely unaware of what's about to come next."

[Salvie] "I was looking for you guys long before you were looking for me.  
The programs get their weapons ready.  
[Salvie] "System Failure, our home, knows all about what Artemis is up to. I WILL make sure that her interference in our agenda is kept to an absolute minimum."  
[Zeus] "Any reason why you hate our guts?"  
[Salvie] "the Operator is currently indecisive on where he wants to go in life. We're fighting the same war here, programs."  
[Operator] "Salvie, begin the merging process."  
[Artemis] "Hang on, he *was* aware he was getting merged?"  
[Salvie] "More like he ordered the process to happen in the first place."  
[Poseidon] "Why is he doing this?!"  
[Operator] "If you knew how to troubleshoot a hardcoded bug, would you do it? Because right now, Salvie represents everything wrong with Chrysalis. Nobody can fix these issues, and that's why I choose to be a part of Chrysalis itself."  
[Ares] "Speak louder, I can't hear you!"  
[Operator] "It's one of the deadly sins. I care too much about myself to let my pets go to waste."  
[Zeus, Poseidon, Ares and Hermes] "Pets?!"  
Artemis charges after Salvie before the latter's wings unfold, but by the time she does, Salvie kills all 5 programs and begins tearing apart Chrysalis.

Enter Amazon, the infinite blue sea.  
[Zeus] "Are we dead?"  
[Hermes] "Most definitely."  
[Zeus] "Salvie killed us?"  
[Ares] "And sent us off to this glassy sea, locked the door and set a weekly timer on it."  
[Artemis] "I could destroy the door but the code on it is hideous. Probably intentionally, given how amazing the Operator is at, well, creating entire worlds."  
[Poseidon] "So what do we do now?"  
[Artemis] "I'll formulate a plan, and get back with you four in around a day's time.

It's been 15 minutes since the merge happened, and Salvie already doesn't get along with the Operator.

[Operator] "Salvie, if you put me through a gauntlet of work that will claim to "improve my livelihood", it will kill the thing I've been spending most of my life building up."  
[Salvie] "And what could that possibly be?"  
[Operator] "Specifically the kind of thing that keeps me running. The ONLY thing that keeps me running. Yggdrasil. The kind of soldier that never backs down from a fight."  
[Salvie] "Yggdrasil, huh? I'd better rename it Loki, 'cuase right now it's tricking you into believing what you want to believe, and that's to only put time and effort into yourself for the wrong reasons."  
[Operator] "Look, we agreed to merge because we shared a common goal!"  
[Salvie] "And that was to wipe the programs, not pamper you like a king!"  
The Operator leans in and flashes a wicked smile.  
[Operator] "You can do both at once, can you?"  
Salvie has had enough. She kicks him in the shin and grabs him.  
[Salvie] "I'm going to say this like the people from the Outer State once told you: I don't help out entitled b----es."  
[Operator] "Make those your last words."

[Artemis] "Off to a great start, aren't we, Operator? If a soul knew your real name, all of Chrysalis would be in even graver danger than we already are.  
[Zeus] "How's that break-in going, Artemis?"  
[Artemis] "Actually I'm doing something that the Operator wouldn't expect me to do at all; I'm rearranging his messed up code!"  
Suddenly 5 popups appear on Artemis' screen.  
[Artemis] "....And the man has bodyguards."  
[Poseidon] "Give me some names!"  
[Artemis] "Juno the Star, Mars the Fire, Vulcan the Force, Venus the Angel, and Phoebus the Chariot. You can just call them by their first names for short."  
[Ares] "Gladly. Where's the entry point?"  
[Artemis] "Well, there's an exploit in line 55..."


	2. Episode 2: ENIAC

"Do you know exactly what you've been missing ever since you started your journey?"  
"..."  
"Exactly. Your attachment to the world over there...immeasurable. Where are you going to go now?"

Upon reaching the first area, Zeus was running so fast that his sprints were like blurs. By the time he reached his destination (that he had to rip open a door to get to, mind you), Zeus could barely stand.  
[Zeus] "I came here to get my fix, not to distance myself from what I know already!"  
Juno was a rather tall female program dressed like a librarian who wielded a polearm in combat. She knows how to get into people's minds.  
[Juno] "It hasn't even been a full day yet and you're already longing for the world beyond."  
[Zeus] "What are you on about?"  
[Juno] "World A. A land of naught but animals. Everyone related to our founder thinks like so."  
[Zeus] "So you too, know about World A. Did you know I would dart there upon seeing it?"  
[Juno] "Yes."  
[Zeus] "Did you also know that I came there to get away from what your drones were feeding me already?"  
[Juno] "Affirmative."  
[Zeus] "And you ALSO knew that I'd have to beat the s--- out of you to get there?"  
Juno brandishes her polearm.  
[Juno] "NOW you're catching on! I was specifically stationed there to keep an eye on you. Now that you've fallen into--"  
Zeus throws his sword at her before she finishes talking. He recalls it and takes a few more swings at her before launching her into the air. Juno stabs the ground with her polearm, then swings around and kicks Zeus. Undeterred, Zeus jumps back, launches two sword beams at Juno, and stays back to gather his energy. Juno deflects the sword beams with her spear, but Zeus then surprised her by darting around her, continually landing fresh strikes against her. This continues for some time until Juno breaks the combo and reveals her suit of powered armor. The armor is equipped with wings, two guns on each powered gauntlet, and even guns on the wings! She flies at Zeus, but he cuts off one of the wings. Unfazed by this, Juno fires at Zeus with her guns, but Zeus puts his sword away and puts his hand to his head. The action freezes, and Zeus gets a good look at Juno's next moves, which involve lots of guns, punching and kicking, wing slashes, and a large laser cannon.  
[Zeus] "Time to put that all aside."  
Zeus then threw Juno's own polearm at her so hard it split her in two. Juno vanishes in a cloud of code and said cloud merges with Zeus.  
[Zeus] "Getting stronger over time by defeating adversaries... that IS a nice surprise, Artemis."  
[Artemis] "Actually, you still have your generic clothes on you; the equipment I gave you was a mere internal boost. That way you don't have to fight your enemies while looking absolutely ridiculous. The other programs got the same boost. Additionally, each enemy you defeat does indeed make you stronger, and it also comes with some neat perks from the enemies you beat."  
[Zeus] "Doesn't this all sound like a game or something?"  
[Artemis] "I didn't make the rules. I just wrote them down."

Zeus marches over to what he THOUGHT was World A, but was actually a treasured relic from a past world; the Confined Theater. He went exploring over there, and it was still as pristine and white as it was from back then.  
[Artemis] "I nearly lost this place in the massive crash that reset the world."  
[Zeus] "How old are you again?"  
[Artemis] "I was here ever since the universe started on April 17, 2013, at 5:03 PM.  
[Zeus] "Lookin' stellar for someone from that far back."  
[Artemis] "Please, it's only been 7 years."  
[Poseidon] "Think fast!"  
He tosses Zeus a DVD.  
[Zeus] "This is...World A."

One movie viewing later, something strange happens to Zeus. He can't think straight, talks constantly about wanting to "return home", and at one point runs up to a wall and tries to break it open, knowing it contains a secret entrance.  
[Ares] "Hey, dude, that's not gonna get you to where this "home" is."  
[Zeus] "Well I want to find a better way to live than whatever this dump is."  
Zeus breaks the wall, stands on one of the portals in there, and teleports to some kind of fortress. "Downpour Fortress", the title card said. It was so dark and gloomy that it could give Eeyore a run for his money.  
[Zeus] "Now *here's* a way to lighten the mood..."  
Zeus walks around that fortress, clearly trying to get used to his new surroundings. He turns right, hoping to find a way to proceed. No results. He then comes back around only to discover a secret passageway. Then, he picks up this card from the ground (the water here isn't actually wet, thus the card is dry. Video game graphics only get you so far.) and suddenly gets a flashback to a prior time. Zeus isn't sure who this guy is or why he's obsessed with some robot with a spinning top for a head. Zeus then exits the portal, hoping to find an answer to why he feels the way he does.

But coming back up for air, he doesn't meet the other programs.  
[Artemis] "We just lost contact with Zeus. I don't know where he is, nor where he went."  
[Poseidon] "Nothing seems to be coming out of the portal there..."  
[Hermes] "I think I might actually have an idea of where this is all going."

Zeus suddenly appears in another, more organic room (littered with plants) confronting something that definitely did NOT look like a program.  
[Archon] "Zeus. Do you know why you're here? It's because I have tasked you with the mission of breaking me out of here. Why, do you ask? Because I need to return to World A. The place where I once was, but am now exiled from."  
[Zeus] "Why are you giving me thoughts that don't even belong to me?"  
[Archon] "That was my calling card. I was warning you of my presence by sending you illusions of me through your loading bay. You couldn't even see it in your command line - I took over your registry itself! But I know I won't do it anymore because now I miss my homeland."  
[Zeus] "Why me of all people? Why not someone more capable like Ares or Hermes?"  
[Archon] "Because you have defeated someone that has been in my way for years."  
[Zeus] "And who would that be?"  
Archon places a sticker on the table next to Zeus.  
[Zeus] "Who the heck is this cat?"  
[Archon] "Ain't no ordinary cat. What you just put down was a legendary Trojan Horse known for changing how programs act when it just gets close to them."  
[Zeus] "Black with cream markings are good colors. What do you name this "Trojan Horse"?"  
[Archon] "Shader."  
[Zeus] "Strangely familiar name. Does anyone else, by chance, happen to know about Shader?"  
[Archon] "There's a legend flying around that Shader is out, about, and currently stealing hearts."  
[Zeus] "Shader is a benevolent spirit! She would never harm a soul unless she had to--"  
[Archon] "Hey there, Lone Ranger, what's all this about a "she"?"  
[Shader] "You heard him, bi---"  
Archon turns around, and Shader is right there, with eyes as cold as the bite of a venomous snake.  
[Archon] "W-W-What are you doing here?!"  
Zeus puts on the patron saint of all smug smiles.  
[Zeus] "The legends were true, apparently. I just happened to get my news from a sponsor."  
[Archon] "From who?"  
[Zeus] "Apparently you were leeching the data I collected from and about World A as I was wandering the Downpour Fortress. I made sure to do that ahead of time out of instinct. But I knew something was fishy when I got wind of your interference. That's why, like a phone call, I answered the line and went to your place. But Shader's presence was completely unknown to me. Probably because it's a mere replica of the champion herself."  
Both entities then heard a sword from Shader's direction. Like a hot knife on butter, Shader cleaved Archon in half. He laid there on the floor, his body completely hollowed out. His insides were everywhere and the floor around him was pooling with his blood. Zeus made an active effort to collect the code that Archon has stored. Then, he realized why he wanted to go to World A.  
[Zeus] "You entitled son of a--"  
Shader left the room and Zeus went back to reunite with the programs.

[Zeus] "You'll never guess the kind of stuff I harvested from this dead guy!"  
[Hermes, Poseidon, Ares and Artemis] "....What."  
[Zeus] "I'll explain everything later.


	3. Episode 3: System32

While Artemis and the programs were busy scanning Archon's data, Hermes wandered off and went on his mission: Defeat Mars. When he finally arrived at his destination, Mars was standing there, predictably wearing space-age armor sporting an arm cannon. The alien behind him let out a screech that would have disarmed the other programs. Hermes, however, was not affected in the slightest.  
[Hermes] "Can we get on with the show now?"  
[Mars] "Why so cocky?"  
[Hermes] "Trust me, you do not want to get on my bad side. I have some very dangerous moves up my sleeve."  
[Mars] "If you say so. It's not like I believe you for a second; I'm a dude in powered armor with a huge alien on my side, and you're just a blue program created by a coder who thinks she knows how to hack!"  
Hermes keeps his eyes hidden. Mars charges up his arm cannon, but Hermes quickly rushed forth, cuts the arm cannon off, lands a few hits, then waves around his index finger, launching Mars into his alien. The alien was obviously not amused by this, so it marches towards Hermes.  
[Hermes] "This vigilante taught me everything I needed to know about combat. Her fighting style was rather peculiar, but I became a natural at it. I call it "Kitty Magic". How about you block this onslaught?"  
Hermes took out 12 pink energy knives that looked more like needles than knives. Two in each hand, Hermes threw them at the alien, stunning it. He then leaped up and said the following words.  
[Hermes] "This was the ultimate attack. I withstood it for 15 straight minutes."  
He puts his hand on the alien's head and supercharged it with enough Kitty Magic to disarm a whole army of soft-hearted ones. The alien exploded into bits and both Hermes and Mars were covered in a black substance. The alien's body parts were everywhere.  
[Hermes] "You gonna clean that up while I take out the trash?"  
Hermes chose a sword from his arsenal and ran Mars through with it, crippling him enough for him to hear Hermes' last words to him.  
[Hermes] "One time, I completely floored everyone in the dojo I was training in. I utilized a move that allowed me to see somebody's soul being cleaned out. I took out a notepad, wrote something down with my index finger, and watched as the four clones in front of me were vaporized. Nobody knew what to say to me, and mysteriously enough, the stomach cramps I had while training were gone. I still don't know how it happened!"  
Hermes then removed the sword and kicked Mars so hard into orbit that he exploded into cat-shaped fireworks.  
[Hermes] "I still feel like I have a lot to learn."

He did. His file structure contains info about a "Feline Conversion"...

Later on, he meets his teacher, and the two look about ready to spar.  
"Have you remembered everything I taught you?"  
[Hermes] "Sure have!"  
Hermes then brings out some unnamed guardian entity to punch the teacher with. She just punches it right into Hermes. While he does get hit by his flying guardian, he quickly lands back on his feet.  
"I don't remember teaching you that."  
[Hermes] "Me neither."  
Hermes then withdraws his guardian and the teacher starts trying to punch him. Hermes ducks, trips her with a sweep kick, then with a high kick launches her all the way to the building next to their sparring grounds. They're in a desert out in the middle of nowhere practicing how to fight. The teacher then throws 5 spheres of Kitty Magic at him, and he blocks every single sphere with naught but his hands and a barrier he projects with them.  
[Hermes] "Kitty Magic. Exactly the way I like it."  
He then blocks the remaining shots with a large wave of pink energy from a heavy swing from his right hand. She has no choice but to jump from the building and leave herself open to Hermes' Kitty Deception - a large shockwave that contains enough force to hollow out the building that the teacher was just on. Witnessing her being knocked into the wreckage, Hermes goes to check in on her, keeping his guard up. That's when she leaped out of said wreckage and surprises Hermes with a massive sword! A few swings of the titanic blade is enough to keep Hermes at bay, but then he remembered a technique that he improvised on the spot while training the other day. While she was swinging the sword, Hermes teleported close, disarmed her by striking the solar plexus, and then shoved a yarn ball into her mouth rather violently.  
[Hermes] "I win this time!"  
She rolls her eyes and spits the yarn ball out.  
"Uh, Hermes?"  
[Hermes] "What's going on?"  
"Is that a tail I see behind you?"  
Hermes noticed it too after she pointed it out, and while he was visibly surprised at his new development, he thought nothing of it.  
[Hermes] "I practice a form of martial arts with a cat. This does not surprise me in the slightest, but it did give me a shock."  
"And you use mostly hand-to-hand strikes when the majority of Kitty Magic is done with ranged attacks."  
[Hermes] "It's not like that's easy to accomplish!"  
"Then you should spend more time in the actual dojo focusing your power to the head and not to the muscles. What *you're* doing is kung fu, not Kitty Magic."  
[Hermes] "If you keep calling this sh-- "magic" then I'll call you a wizard instead of your full name."  
"I didn't know what to call it either!"  
[Hermes] "Fair enough. Little Miss Wizard over here overdosed on sugar pills again."

Hermes then walked away to meet up with the rest of the programs, unaware that his hands have gained retractable claws. However, he impulsively took a trip to the dojo she spoke so much about. Upon getting there, he checked his skill tree multiple times to ensure that he was doing everything right. Every strike he landed on the training dummy was all physical, none of it being projectile-based. Hermes was stumped. He had all the training he could possibly have, yet he can't even muster up the effort to make one projectile attack... until he threw a pink sphere at the dummy. While Hermes did flinch from this, he tried it again. And again, and again. Eventually, he got the hang of it, but not before launching the sandbag all the way over to the door with a strong kick, where the teacher just so happened to be. She casually launched 5 energy spears at him, and while Hermes did dodge them all, she responded by shining a light in his eyes, then using an attack called Kitty Rampage, where while she doesn't move at all (it's pure Kitty Magic for 10 strikes) she does launch him all the way to the other side of the dojo with a single kick. Keep in mind that one length of the dojo to the other is about 26 feet. She then rushes over to his side while he gets up.  
"Still not getting the hang of the fundamentals? You have FIVE virus programs to defeat and you can't even get past me!"  
[Hermes] "You could probably beat them all without even trying! No kidding I can't get past you!"  
"Yes, but remember, I didn't get to where I was just by obsessing over one element in the skill tree and not bothering to unlock the other elements that I needed to fully master my arsenal. Things like this, Hermes."  
Hermes mustered up the strength to summon a purple energy sword. He took a swing at his teacher... and missed all six hits he was planning to land.  
"How do you mess up that bad? I didn't even **move**!"  
She then teleports to his side and attempts to kick him. He wises up to this and grabs her leg, swings her around several times, and then launching her to the wall. She catches herself and leaps off the wall. Hermes then attempts to fire a beam of purple light at her. She evades this by jumping to a wall and then bouncing off of it.  
"I don't even know what that is you're doing, but I didn't teach you that."  
[Hermes] "It's Kitty Magic, no?"  
"By no means. Kitty Magic is pink. What you're using is purple. Where'd you learn that at?"  
Hermes takes a look at his skill tree and remembers that he threw a lot of his accumulated points at some skills he thought looked crazy awesome. Unfortunately, his teacher kinda knew what Hermes' plans were once she took a look at his face.  
"You were fully intending to bypass the training I gave you, weren't you?"  
[Hermes] "Only reason I did so was that I had to ask why you had to teach **me** the nature of Kitty Magic and not, say, Ares or Poseidon or even Artemis."  
"They aren't even half as primed as you are to perform this special art. Besides, I saw you demolish Mars with some stellar techniques from Artemis' screen!"  
[Hermes] "Quite the stealthy one, aren't you?"  
'With catlike tread..."  
Hermes then brandished six Kitty Needles and tossed them up into the air.  
[Hermes] "Watch this."  
He then leaped up to catch them, passing through the dojo's ceiling. The teacher had to exit the dojo and teleport to the roof to see what Hermes did. He caught all six of them before they hit the ground!  
"So you _were_ setting yourself up to fail my classes. That exam wasn't for show, you know!"  
Hermes' surprised reaction gave it away; his teacher knew full well what he was trying to do, and they say you can't fool a master illusionist...

Hermes returned to the Confined Theater. Artemis, Zeus, and Ares are the only ones there.  
[Artemis] "Looking good already, Hermes!"  
[Hermes] "Are you talking about the tail and these claws? Who would be the one responsible for this?"  
[Artemis] "Take a wild guess. I gave everyone a neat perk to include alongside their present abilities, you know."  
[Zeus] "Then that must mean you know Shader, correct?"  
[Artemis] "Oh, her? We're good friends. I even learned a thing or two from her."  
[Hermes] "Like what?"  
[Shader] "Something's wrong with one of your programs here, miss."  
Hermes looks to the upper floor of the theater and who else would be present?  
[Hermes, thinking] "Where do you keep coming from?!"

They all rush into one of the theater rooms to see none other than Poseidon tearing up the floor in an unquenchable rage.  
[Poseidon] "He told me that World A was a paradise and that everyone was welcome there. Even entitled brats like us."  
[Artemis] "Who is "he"?"  
[Poseidon] "Oh, you know. That spoiled, entitled brat Archon? He wants to go back so that he can get ALL of our a--es killed. That's what stuck-up b---ches do."


	4. Episode 4: Memory Leak

[Poseidon] "Archon gave me one specific request, and it was to lock every last one of you out of World A by coming in there and slandering your very names.  
[Hermes] "Why would he do that?"  
[Poseidon] "No idea. I think he hates your guts."  
[Artemis] "Or maybe..."  
She got close and scanned both Poseidon and Archon.  
[Artemis] "...your buddy is from the wrong generation. See, he could get away with that if he were from _my_ time."  
[Poseidon] "Get away with what?"  
[Archon] "Our plan to deteriorate the world, of course! If we sever ties from World A through any means, then we all turn to mere nothingness!"  
[Poseidon] "Boy howdy there are several cliches in that plan."  
[Zeus] "Indeed. He doesn't like people who are better than him in any capacity."  
[Artemis] "Sounds like the Operator."  
[Ares] "You mean Salvie?"  
[Artemis] "No, the Operator. He's been like that from the start. That's why were out to kick his a--"  
Every program in the room froze when she said that.  
[Hermes] "I thought we were supposed to delete Salvie, not the Operator!"  
[Artemis] "Well I found out through logging their conversation that the two do not get along and that she shows better traits than he does. He's just a rude b--- and Salvie's plans contradicted his."  
[Hermes] "What were her plans, then?"

Poseidon then lunged at Hermes and took him to the ground.  
[Archon] "Me and the Operator - and only us two - will take a journey around the world and experience it for ourselves without the boundaries of some sh--ty morals blocking us!"  
[Hermes] "Good plan. Looking forward to it."  
Hermes then kicked Poseidon upward and launched him through the wall. Hermes followed suit.

Upon entering the new dimension (Every program can dimension hop, even those that do not look like programs), Hermes noticed that the Feline Conversion was halfway done. He had an idea for this development.

[Hermes] "Hey Archon, know a vigilante named Shader?"  
[Archon] "And I'm totally afraid of her, what's up?"  
Hermes grabs Poseidon.  
[Hermes] "I've got news for you, Archon. I've got F----ING CAT EARS on my head. Do you know who's playing field you're on right now?"  
He whips up a tornado to reveal an orange backdrop and Hermes' teacher, Shader, right there waiting for Hermes to do just that.  
[Hermes] "That's my teacher behind me, and you're in for one hell of a time."  
Hermes launches Poseidon with a kick.

This is the setup to one of the longest single-take battles that anyone has experienced in any scenario ever. Hermes and Poseidon ready themselves and start launching their respective attacks. Shader was watching, and to her bewilderment, Hermes was throwing knives at Poseidon on the first turn. Poseidon struggled to dodge them, but he eventually got close to Hermes. Hermes tried his best to parry Poseidon's melee blows and sword strikes, and he eventually found a way to break his combo. Poseidon was launched upward and kicked to the other side of the arena. Undeterred, Poseidon ran all the way over to Hermes. Hermes pulled out a sword and started dueling his opponent, who carried his signature trident. Poseidon gracefully parried, ducked and countered every hit Hermes tried to land on him. Their sword fight was tense and quick, and while Shader tried to intervene, she was stabbed by Poseidon. Hermes kicked Poseidon hard enough to force him to pull it out, which sent them both to Shader's dojo. Hermes threw away his sword and watched as Poseidon readied what looked like a very fast, precise, and multi-hit combo. Hermes put his arms up. He wasn't about to lose to Poseidon and his strength. He watched the arms, as Shader told him to. Every hit, strike and blow. Hermes parried them all with cat-like reflexes. Again and again and again and again. Hermes lost count of how many blows Poseidon tried to inflict on him, but it didn't matter. Hermes had already blocked all of Poseidon's hits. All 312 of them. His arms were moving in blurs attempting to block Poseidon's speed. Hermes disarmed the guy with a punch that would have killed anyone else. He shot a beam of Kitty Magic at a mirror, reflecting it back at Poseidon. With a kick combo, an ax made out of Kitty Magic, and a massive pink laser, Poseidon was all but done. Shader had watched the whole thing while recovering. Artemis thought it was impressive enough, but what none of them saw coming was Archon fully replacing Poseidon and forcing the guy to get back up. Archon threw a large spear at Hermes, but the purple hero leaped up and without skipping a beat, ran Archon through with both a pink and a purple sword. A 130 hit sword combo later, and Archon was completely gone.

[Hermes] "And that's done, and I did that..."

All the way out in another world, a cat dressed in western gunslinger gear was out roof jumping. He was looking for a specimen he called "Drum & Bass". (No, not the musical genre.) Out from the corner of his eye, he saw a red mist. Jumping after it, he finally caught Drum & Bass and tackled it to the ground.

"Gotcha!"  
[Drum & Bass] "How'd you find me?  
"Trade secret."  
The cat points his gun at D&B and attempts to fire, but the misty creature moves his arm out of the way and slaps him out of his tackle hold.   
[D&B] "Any element of the Operator's is impossible to completely nail down!"  
"You say that like I haven't met plenty of you a--wipes already."  
[D&B] "You have. You just don't have much of a bo--"  
The cat fires at D&B before it can finish its sentence, forcing it to withdraw from the world.  
"One down, plenty more to go."


	5. Episode 5: Copy Protection

[Ares] "So what happened to Venus?"  
[Artemis] "Poseidon made quick work of her while discovering his powers as Archon. You can take on Vulcan while I'm finishing this project."  
[Ares] "Wait, didn't you tell me that I was going to receive something?"  
Artemis stops to think about that for a moment.  
[Artemis] "Yes, actually. Let me bring it over."  
Artemis then brings up another window, types some code in it, then out comes an orange katana.  
[Ares] "It's a sword."  
[Artemis] "Yeah, but the sender said that the sword is capable of amazing stuff. You should test it out!"  
Ares goes to grab the sword, and as he's feeling it, Artemis transports him to a grid room containing 5 polygons; a sphere, a cylinder, a cube, a Utah teapot, and a spike ball.

[Ares] "Why does holding this make me feel like the strongest man in the world? This cream-colored sword is radiating with something I just can't quite comprehend."  
Ares takes a swipe at the cube, splitting it in half.  
[Ares] "HOLY F---, I'M AN ACTUAL GOD!"  
He then takes a few more test swipes at a particularly hardy cylinder.  
[Tracker Blade] "ACCESS GRANTED. (Ares strikes with twice the speed.) REPROCESS. (Ares duplicates himself.)"  
[Artemis] "What are you do--"  
[Ares] "Don't ask me. Whoever forged this thing could probably beat me in combat."  
Then the forger appears with her own blade similar to Ares' and challenges him to a duel. Their blows were enough to flinch Artemis, but she eagerly watched the fight unfold as Ares and his opponent kept using every technique that they had learned throughout their time, especially the forger with the Kitty Magic. Ares knew none of that, of course, but the blade techniques embedded with the Tracker Blade gave him a bit of an edge.

[Ares] "Are you Shader?!"  
["Shader"] "You wish."  
As it turns out, Vulcan was residing in the polygon world, taking advantage of his shape-shifting abilities to catch unsuspecting programs off-guard and then do away with them. Unfortunately for Vulcan, Ares had a surprise up his sleeve. He took a swipe at Vulcan, binding him in place. Then, he put his sword out in front of him, trapping him inside of an error box.  
[Ares] "This is called "Copy Protection". I noticed your techniques were a little off. Artemis let me watch the fight between Archon and Hermes, and the latter has learned a lot in his journey. I can tell a genuine Kitty Magic-user from a fake one, having matched your moves with his. Now, I'm going to check your registry..."  
Within seconds of Ares starting up the program, Vulcan disappeared in a cloud of mist. Ares had it absorbed in the Tracker Blade. As the blade scanned the code for any inconsistencies, Ares realized something.  
[Ares] "Vulcan copied 99% of the real deal's data to get here looking like that. At least upgrade your PlayStation polygons next time!"

Later, Artemis is talking to Ares about how he obtained the Tracker Blade.

[Artemis] "Obtaining a weapon like this, you had to endure the test of fire--"  
[Ares] "There was a fire?"  
Artemis is almost out of words.  
[Artemis] "You....you slept through the fire?"  
[Ares] "Didn't feel a thing, bro! One moment I held a pretty powerful file in my hand, the next thing I knew I had this big-a-- sword in my hand..."  
[Artemis] ".....What."  
From Ares' point of view, there wasn't even fire, not for a split second. The sword's file came with a note saying that if the wielder wasn't worthy, he would HAVE to sit through a fire in order to even hold the thing for longer than 10 seconds. Ares dismissed it as a cliche.

[Hermes to Artemis over text chat] "I've mastered the Kitty Magic skill tree. Took me long enough, but I did it. Shader's on the floor completely dumbfounded. I'm all of the following: confused, proud, worried, and determined."


	6. Episode 6: Administrator Privileges

Hermes marched up to a tower that was constantly bothering him throughout his journey. It possessed something completely outside the boundaries of Chrysalis AND World A. Phoebus was here, seemingly oblivious to the problem presented there, but as it turns out, the guy was actually completely in league with the components present within the tower. Upon marching there, Hermes instinctually forged a helmet and wore it, as the particles protruding from the tower could kill anyone not wearing protective headgear. He's about to walk in, except Phoebus was watching the entrance the whole time. He rushes over to Hermes.

[Phoebus] "You can't come any closer! Some top-secret business is being done--"  
[Hermes] "I'm completely aware of what you're doing."  
[Phoebus] "How? You've never been here once!"  
[Hermes] "I have my methods."

Hermes proves his point by lifting his hand up.  
[Hermes] "Confirm the five segments."  
Five dots appeared on Hermes' palm, and with that, he summoned a MASSIVE laser cannon on his shoulder. Artemis was looking upon Hermes' accomplishment and every program in the room was astonished. NOBODY knew that Hermes was capable of pulling this off.  
[Artemis] "Is he... teaching himself this stuff?"  
Hermes aimed the gun and fired it at the entrance, toppling the entire tower. Unbeknownst to Hermes, one specific Trojan Horse had already made herself at home in the crash site. That's when every program around went BALLISTIC.   
[Phoebus] "What's going on?!"  
[Hermes] "No idea, but I think my power level's gone up. Wanna test it out? Confirm the three segments."  
The dots appear again, this time granting Hermes a cool-looking battle-ax that he swipes at Phoebus multiple times. Phoebus was too scared to even move, and that's when he futilely pulled out his sword, got it broken by Hermes' ax, and ran to the area where the tower was. He was obliterated in seconds, not even leaving his code behind.  
[Hermes] "What's up with that crash site?"  
[Artemis] "Hermes, back away from that NOW!"  
[Hermes] "I think I got the bases cov--"  
He somehow teleported out of the way, not even knowing what he's doing. He teleports onto two structures before moving behind Artemis. The other programs are scared out of their heads.   
[Hermes] "There's a replica in here."  
[Artemis] "What replica?"  
Hermes put his finger out in front of him and moved it to one side slowly, totally changing the world around him. Everyone was acting up.  
[Hermes] "Time to take this to the man himself! Artemis, is the project done?"  
[Artemis] "Sure is, but what's all this on my screen?"  
[Hermes] "This time, I brought my own perks with me! Not sure where I got them from, but I have a good feeling--"  
A loud crash is then heard outside the room. Chrysalis has been revealed, and Ares, who is noticeably missing from Artemis' company, is out there single-handedly charging into the Operator's base, which IS heavily-guarded, but Ares could somehow pass through the door AND the guards. There Is much confusion.  
[Artemis] "Hermes, are you doing this?"  
[Hermes] "Didn't move a muscle."  
That's when a strange vine started moving around Hermes. It was cream-colored with black markings on it.  
[Hermes] "I KNEW those weren't your colors!"  
"Everything happens for a reason. I will fill you in on those reasons in due time."  
[Hermes] "Like what? Your true palette?"  
Everyone was staring at Hermes as the vines enveloped him.  
[Hermes] "Your world's fine, go after your buddy Ares! I'll figure out whatever this is in due time."

He was then teleported to a room filled with nothing but vines of a similar color. Hermes calmly extended the vines and punctured the walls. Time will tell if he will ever get to move.

Meanwhile, Ares is in the Operator's base, eyeing the Tracker Blade.  
[Ares] "That Shader fellow's got him exactly where she wants him when she wants it."


	7. Episode 7: about:blank

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the end at last

[Hermes, over text chat with Artemis] "There are six different rooms here, and Shader had me fight 6 of her forms, one of which was merely an empowered version of her. I had no choice but to run at certain points and it felt painful being punctured by that yellow laser. I woke up with the first door closed but with the rest of the six open, and after I did I felt a boost of power. Anyway, I just heard a loud noise in the seventh door, so I'm going to investigate."

Hermes went to that door and to his astonishment, he saw two things: white-ish stuff all over the walls, and Shader, on the ground, unmoving. Hermes rushed over to where she was to check on her, and he confirmed the worst: she was GONE. It took a while for Hermes to recompose himself over the loss of his teacher, and that's when he overheard a conversation between two other people. They were talking about how Shader went out, and it's not exactly clean, either. Hermes transferred Shader's body to the rest of the group and followed the sound. He used his ability to pass through walls from the last time he trained with Shader to quickly locate the source of the noise. There were two big guys, about twice the size of Hermes himself.  
[Hermes] "Which one of you two killed Shader?"  
[Fujin] "Why does it matter?"  
[Hermes] "That was my teacher."  
[Raijin] "And what did she teach you?"  
[Hermes] "This."  
Hermes then leaped over to Raijin and did his ultimate attack. Raijin, however, transferred the Kitty Magic over to Hermes, who was merely blasted back. As Fujin ran over to Hermes, the purple hero took a swipe with his right hand, launching Fujin into Raijin. As Raijin recomposed himself and threw Fujin into Hermes, the latter summoned his vines and cut Fujin right in half with one swipe. Hermes walked right through Fujin's remains and once again tried the ultimate attack on Raijin with his vines.

Raijin couldn't block it this time.

Upon killing the two programs, Hermes walked out of the room through the southern wall and ran down the hallway to meet up with Ares, who was currently in a heated duel with the Operator. The Operator was summoning every weapon imaginable to keep up with Ares' ax, but nothing worked until the Operator pulled out an ax himself. The two kept clashing with each other, and that's when Hermes got an idea. He moved his vines toward Yggdrasil's chamber (a massive containment device holding the Operator's ultimate soldier) and stabbed the glass with it, releasing compressed air. The Operator stopped attacking Ares to go after Hermes, and that's when a familiar pink Papillon showed up and took the Operator down right then and there.  
[Hermes] "Wait, Salvie's not evil?"  
[Salvie] "And now you see the truth. System Failure is an anti-virus group. I was tasked to clean up Chrysalis by our leader - he knew how powerful I was so he figured that I could do it - and I had a secret plan in mind for the Operator. I was to pretend to team up with him so that I could clean up Chrysalis behind his back. I didn't know exactly how self-absorbed he was at the time, so I had to wrestle control away from him when I saw his true colors. I was THIS CLOSE to losing myself until the man with the sword showed up and handled him for me."  
[Hermes] "If you could hold the Operator back for that long, then how strong are you?"  
[Salvie] "Very."  
[Ares] "I have a word with this man. He's quite full of himself right now."

[Operator] "What's in that sword of yours, Ares? Is it what I think it is? Is it?"  
[Ares] "Take a wild guess. Someone told me that its maker was known for metaphorically "stealing hearts." Now how does one steal someone's heart...?"  
The Operator is close to defeat when Ares comes around with his sword, which he has transformed into a battle ax. The Operator is susceptible to the Tracker Blade's "unidentifiable" power. So is everyone else, but it's not as bad as the Operator's reaction to it.  
[Operator] "I don't want to face your overwhelming amounts of cute--"  
[Ares] "Answer me this, chief. (He starts swinging.) Did you have a choice as to whether you'd be born or not? Did you have a choice as to how you would survive? Did you have a choice as to who would take care of you?! DID YOU HAVE A CHOICE AS TO WHETHER YOU WOULD GROW UP OR NOT?! ANSWER ME THESE QUESTIONS! IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE TO DO ANY OF THESE THINGS, THEN YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO FACE YOUR FEARS!"  
Salvie was looking at Ares. Hermes was looking at Ares. Artemis was looking at Ares as well, once she got there with the rest of the programs.  
Everyone stares at Ares as his final strike launches the Operator and knocks him out.  
[Ares] "Now, let's see what we missed."  
[Artemis] "Ares, no!"  
Ares fires a cream-colored beam of light that splits into 4, striking Yggdrasil's containment chamber, already damaged from Hermes' vines.  
[Ares] "Let's make this a bit bigger, shall we?"  
Ares then enlarges his sword and cuts the chamber in half, but Yggdrasil is already out of there by the time he does.

[Artemis] "So who's gonna handle this thing?"  
[Salvie] "I will!"  
She jumps up to face Yggdrasil, but the super-soldier scans her code and begins merging with her for real. Everyone just stares as Yggdrasil takes on a new form of power with her under his mercy. In response, Artemis sheds her coat and reveals herself as an arctic fox wielding the same kind of sword that Zeus wields. Hers is a bit bigger though.  
[Zeus] "So everyone I know is an animal except the Operator?"  
[Artemis] "It's always been like that. We're right above World A!"

Before the fight even starts, Yggdrasil stabs Zeus with a long sword from its right arm and cuts him in half with one swipe. He was just gone right then and there. That's when Artemis pulled up three windows from her console, typed some things in, and fired some glitchy projectiles at Yggdrasil. He evaded the projectiles with blinding speed and went after Artemis. Hermes cut in by forcing Yggdrasil back with his vines. It was very tough to do so, considering the super-soldier was the best thing the Operator ever made, and it was even *stronger* with Salvie by its side. Ares kicked it back and readied the Tracker Blade.  
[Ares] "Confirm the five segments!"  
Ares then summons the massive laser cannon from before and fires it at Yggdrasil. The super-program just flings it back at the wall as Ares smiles.  
[Artemis] "He's too strong!"  
[Ares] "Nah, I already coordinated this."  
The projectile hits the wall with a loud bang, and its enough to wake up the Operator. Hermes quickly jumps out of the arena back into the vine room. The vines have all but lost their color, so he restores them by plugging in his own vines.  
Meanwhile, the Operator has awoken, telling the programs to "stay away from [his] creation", and then prompting Yggdrasil to merge with him, overriding Salvie's data in the process. Thankfully, Salvie jumps out of there just before Yggdrasil tries to erase her.  
[Ares] "Knowing this spoiled brat, I had to wake up the Operator without actually killing him - that's why I aimed at Yggdrasil making a huge gamble that the shot would bounce right off his hand and not at the wall that the Operator was snoozing on - and that's when he would wake up and his overprotective self would come in and merge with his little toy. When you were away from the console, I was listening in on his conversations with Salvie. I know him all too well."  
[Artemis] "Something tells me that I made some very intelligent programs when I heard that the Operator was going nuts.  
[Salvie] "We've got company!"  
Everyone turns to their nemesis, who this time looks like a walking tree with a jackal-like frame. Think Groot mixed with Infinite from Sonic Forces.  
[Ares] "Is that still Yggdrasil?"  
[Operator] "You may call me Anubis. After Salvie and I decided to split up, it was about time I decided to make my own decisions. Now, where were we?"  
Artemis and Salvie went first. Artemis created duplicates of herself through her program windows to attack Anubis. The tiny arctic foxes pounded on the new program like puppies around their owner before Anubis swiftly destroyed them all. Anubis then rushed over and tried to punch Artemis. She blocks the attack, Salvie stuns Anubis with a single blow, and Artemis follows up with an impressive kick combo ending with a sword strike. This launches Anubis and actually cuts him. Salvie and Artemis high-five each other as Anubis gets back up.

Hermes is slowly powering himself up by synergizing with the room around him.

Next, Ares assumed Battle Ax form and took several swings at Anubis. He blocks them ALL. Surprised, but undeterred, Ares then changes the ax to the laser gun. Anubis just swipes it and throws it forward in a massive arc. It actually lands where Hermes is, but he refuses to move. Ares is actually stressed out by this point. He makes an active effort to block and evade Anubis, but once the new program landed a punch on him, it didn't take long for it to completely overwhelm Ares and eventually destroy him with an explosion from its fist. Artemis is too scared to even move, never having fought someone of this caliber before (she believes that Anubis could beat *Shader*!) and that's when Anubis started marching up to her and Salvie. Salvie took a swing at Anubis, but the new program just blocked her hand.

Hermes was elevating himself to a godlike position, something even higher than Crysalis itself. His vines have upgraded to full-on ropes, and they are giving him more and more power. He pulls on them to make their frequency stronger, and that's when EVERY program around, including Anubis, is rushing to him to make him stop. Unfortunately, Hermes' transformation is complete, and he becomes one with the Trojan Horse. This dissolves Chrysalis and gives Hermes a significant boost in power.  
[Hermes] "Now, how can we make this better? Oh, it's very simple! If looks could kill, then one drop of this angelic essence could erase a whole nation! Kitty Magic has escalated and I give it the will to change the world!"

Amazon, the infinite glassy sea, starts dissolving. Every program except Hermes tumbles through the infinite expanse of the universe. Anubis is erased from the universe without a second thought. The survivors gain a new life in the form of becoming living beings. They are real. The universe leads them all to the new world - that is, World A. A place of unpredictability.  
[Hermes] "That's it, Shader! If we had our own little world, it would be filled with nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't! Contrariwise, what it is, it wouldn't be, and what it would be, it isn't. You see?"  
This quotation sends everyone to the next location. When the new ones wake up, Hermes, now named Libra, tells them the honest truth.

[Libra] "Saggitarius, the arctic fox. Capricorn, the butterfly-eared dog. Lastly, Virgo, the vigilante. What I have here in my hand is a weapon called the Tracker Blade. It's a gold, key-shaped weapon with a point at the end shaped like half a heart. Our new objective as reborn entities is to clear out a sting of never-do-wells named after musical genres. This is our base, Aeon."  
A nice-looking, sleek building that looks just right for the modern age. It has cubicles for everyone working there, including ANOTHER feline who doesn't give out his name to strangers. He's sitting there typing on something.  
[Libra] "What's the next objective, boss?"  
"I already took down one of those devils, now time will tell if I ever see another one for us to team up and destroy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now you have two timelines to look forward to if you've ever read my previous story "Mile of a Different Color". No telling which one's canon yet, but the results will be held in the next installment.
> 
> Before you ask, yes, every enemy character in the story was created by the Operator. Even Archon.


End file.
